E wise



March 10, 1964 G. E. WISE 3,124,501

FACING WITH MAGNET ATTACHMENT MEANS Filed July 7, 1960 INVENTOR UnitedStates Patent Ofiice 3,124,501 Patented Mar. 10, 1964 3,124,5 3 FACINGWHTH MAGNET ATTAQHMENT MEANS Glenn E. Wise, 2415 I fifth Place NWWashington 7, 11C. Fiied July 7, 1963, Ser. No. 41,425

2 Claims. (Cl. 161-4) This invention relates to a facing, and, moreparticularly, to an ornamental facing which is designed for removableattachment to an exterior wall of a major home appliance, for example, arefrigerator or stove, or the like.

For many years, the majority of the larger or major home appliances havebeen constructed with steel cabinets providedwith white enameled orprocelainized exterior finishes. While such finishes, when clean, lendan hygenic appearance to the appliances, their large white surfacespresent a somewhat stark image to the eyes. Further, such allwhiteappliances are difiicult to integrate into subtle color schemes oftenused in modern interior decoration.

One object of my invention, therefore, is to provide a useful andornamental facing which may be used to cover a chosen portion of a majorappliance to improve the over-all appearance of the appliance and torender the appliance more harmonious with its surroundings.

Another object of my invention is to provide an ornamental facing whichmay be economically manufactured, easily installed and detached, andeasily maintained in a clean condition.

Other objects will be apparent from the remainder of the specificationand from the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings which form a part of this specification:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation showing my facing installed upon theoutside of a portion of a refrigerator door;

FIGURE 2 is a partial side elevation of the structure seen in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a partial plan view of the structure of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a three-dimensional view taken from the back side of myfacing, and showing said facing detached from the refrigerator door; andI FIGURE 5 is an exploded view of a typical corner portion of my facing,showing how the various elements are related.

Referring now to the drawings by reference numerals, my novel ornamentalfacing is designated generally by 1. To illustrate one possibleutilization of facing 1, I show it attached, by means to be described,to a porcelainized steel refrigerator designated generally by 2. While Ishow my facing attached to a refrigerator door, I do not wish to limitmyself to such a support since my facing may be attached to a greatvariety of articles having magnet attracting surfaces, for example,stoves, kitchen cabinets, and the like. Refrigerator 2,, as isconventional, includes a cabinet body, a portion of which is shown at 3,

a door 4, hinged to the cabinet body by hinges 5 and 6,

a seal 7, bonded to the inside of the door and positioned between thedoor and the cabinet, and a handle 8 fixed to the front of the door 4.

My ornamental facing 1,shown alone in FIGURE 4, and shown mounted on therefrigerator in FIGURES l to 3, includes a thin, flexible panel 9,composed of a sheet of aluminum, or pressed wood, or the like. On thefront of panel 9 is painted, or otherwise imposed, an artisticrepresentation such as picture 10, or the front of panel 9 may merely bepainted or otherwise coated with a pleasing color, as desired. Attachedto the rear side of panel 9, along at least two parallel edges thereof,by means of glue or the like, not shown, are elongated strips offlexible, compressible rubber, or the like. In the specific embodimentshown in the drawings, four of these strips are seen at 11, 12, 13 and14. Each of these four strips has mitered ends so as to cooperate with anext adjacent strip to form a square corner. If desired, rather thanusing a plurality of separate strips, I may employ one endless,

, rectangular, gasketdike strip which would be equivalent to the pluralstrips seen in the drawings. At intervals along the rear side of each ofthe strips are formed a plurality of identical notches 15 which allowthe strips, and the flexible panel 9 to be easily bent to fit thecontour of the appliance on which my facing is to be mounted.

Each notch 15 lies lateral to the longitudinal axis of the strip portionin which it is formed, and the notches extend a majority of theway, butnot through the strip, as best seen in FIGURE 5. Between each notch 15remains a hill 16, and in the top of at least some of these hills areformed recesses as at 17. These recesses each are provided to receive asmall permanent magnet 18, the magnets being held in the recesses bymeans of glue, or the like, not shown. The tops of magnets ISmay be madeflush with the top of the hills, or they may be made to lie slightlyabove, or below the top of the hills. If the tops of magnets 18 are madeto lie slightly below the tops of hills 16, then the strips 17 mustcompress slightly before the magnets can engage a surface. In thedrawings I show the magnets top faces flush with the tops of hills 16.

The magnets form the means for attaching the facing to its support. Iprefer to employ magnetic means, rather than adhesive or other obviouslyserviceable attaching. means, so that the facing can easily bedismounted for cleaning of the facing and the appliance. Obviously, thesupport upon which my facing is mounted for use must be of a material,such as steel, to which a magnet is attracted.

T o employ my facing, a user merely holds it so that its rear side isclosely adjacent a magnet-attracting surface, as for example, door 4 ofsteel refrigerator 2. The magnets, and thus the entire facing, are thenattracted to the surface and the notches 15 allow the strips'and panel 9to flex so as to conform to the contour of the doors surface. T 0 removethe facing from the refrigerator, if it is necessary only to overcomethe magnets attraction to the door, either by pulling the facingoutwardly from the door, or by sliding the facing laterally off of thedoor.

Having now set forth the structure and mode of utilization of myinvention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentis:

1. An ornamental facing adapted to be supported by a magnet-attractingsurface comprising: a flexible normally planar panel havingsubstantially parallel opposite faces and including a border portioncoextensive with the margin-forming edge portions thereof; magnet meanshaving portions adapted to engage said surface, said magnet meanscomprising a plurality of spaced magnets located along substantially theentire border portion of said panel adjacent one of said faces; andmeans attaching said magnet means to said one of said faces, saidattaching means including elongated flexible strip means having notchmeans therein to increase the flexibility thereof, said strip having oneside engaged with said one of said panel faces and an opposite sideadapted to face said surface when said facing issupported thereon, saidnotch means including a plurality of spaced notches having tops whichopen toward said opposite side of said stripand bottoms which arelocated closer to said panel than said tops, each of said notches beinglocated substantially transversely to the length of that portion of saidstrip in which each notch is formed, and each notch top comprisingspaced opposed notch Walls which intersect with and interrupt thecontinuity of said opposite side of said strip, said panel beingsufficiently flexible that said panel is capable of flexing from itsnormally planar condition to assume substantial parallelism with saidsurface when supported thereon in the event that said surface exhibits acontour other than flat.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein each of said opposed notch wallsconverge toward the bottoms of the notches of which said opposed Wallsare a part.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Leppkeet al. Apr. 12, 1927 Elmendorf Dec. 14, 1943 Brennan Nov. 17, 1953 JanosOct. 1, 1957 Moskowitz Oct. 25, 1960

1. AN ORNAMENTAL FACING ADAPTED TO BE SUPPORTED BY A MAGNET-ATTRACTINGSURFACE COMPRISING: A FLEXIBLE NORMALLY PLANAR PANEL HAVINGSUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL OPPOSITE FACES AND INCLUDING A BORDER PORTIONCOEXTENSIVE WITH THE MARGIN-FORMING EDGE PORTIONS THEREOF; MAGNET MEANSHAVING PORTIONS ADAPTED TO ENGAGE SAID SURFACE, SAID MAGNET MEANSCOMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SPACED MAGNETS LOCATED ALONG SUBSTANTIALLY THEENTIRE BORDER PORTION OF SAID PANEL ADJACENT ONE OF SAID FACES; ANDMEANS ATTACHING SAID MAGNET MEANS TO SAID ONE OF SAID FACES, ANDATTACHING MEANS INCLUDING ELONGATED FLEXIBLE STRIP MEANS HAVING NOTCHMEANS THEREIN TO INCREASE THE FLEXIBILITY THEREOF, SAID STRIP HAVING ONESIDE ENGAGED WITH SAID ONE OF SAID PANEL FACES AND AN OPPOSITE SIDEADAPTED TO FACE SAID SURFACE WHEN SAID FACING IS SUPPORTED THEREON, SAIDNOTCH MEANS INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF SPACED NOTCHES HAVING TOPS WHICHOPEN TOWARD SAID OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID STTIP AND BOTTOMS WHICH ARELOCATED CLOSER TO SAID PANEL THAN SAID TOPS, EACH OF SAID NOTCHES BEINGLOCATED SUBSTANTIALLY TRANSVERSELY TO THE LENGTH OF THAT PORTION OF SAIDSTRIP IN WHICH EACH NOTCH IS FORMED, AND EACH NOTCH TOP COMPRISINGSPACED OPPOSED NOTCH WALLS WHICH INTERSECT WITH AN INTERRUPT THECONTINUITY OF SAID OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID STRIP, SAID PANEL BEINGSUFFICIENTLY FLEXIBLE THAT SAID PANEL IS CAPABLE OF FLEXING FROM ITSNORMALLY PLANAR CONDITION TO ASSUME SUBSTANTIAL PARALLELISM WITH SAIDSURFACE WHEN SUPPORTED THEREON IN THE EVENT THAT SAID SURFACE EXHIBITS ACONTOUR OTHER THAN FLAT.